The technical cooperation involves a series of Freescale microcontroller (MCU) platforms, including 32-bit Power Architecture MCUs,16-bit S12X and 8-bit S08 devices, as well as analog ICs.
As one of the three leading automobile manufacturers in China, Dongfeng has maintained a fast yet steady pace of development and has demonstrated a strong commitment to technological innovation and industry leadership, said Henri Richard, Freescale’s senior vice president, chief sales and marketing officer. Through close cooperation and joint research and development, Freescale and Dongfeng Motor expect to achieve breakthroughs in cost-effective body electronics, powertrain and HEV solutions to be deployed in next-generation automotive system designs.
To date, Dongfeng has developed advanced technologies for engine control, hybrid control and automated manual transmission (AMT). One of Dongfeng’s significant technology achievements is an electronic control unit (ECU) development project based on the company’s S12 MCU, which has gone into mass production. Future cooperation between the two companies is expected to focus on chassis and safety technologies, as well as in-car infotainment and navigation.
As the world’s leading automotive semiconductor provider, Freescale has outstanding technologies in IC integration and manufacturing, and it provides reliable IC products,” said Huang Jiateng, dean of technical center at Dongfeng. The opening of the joint lab and the collaboration between Dongfeng and Freescale in creating end-to-end automotive solutions will boost Dongfeng’s technology development capabilities.
Freescale and Dongfeng plan to extend their cooperation across a wide range of automotive hardware and software technologies. For example, Dongfeng has developed an electronic engine control system based on the company’s 32-bit MPC5xx MCUs and plans to migrate the control system design to MPC563x MCUs, a cost-effective MCU family optimized for green engine control. Joint software development and system integration are expected to be important aspects of the cooperation. The two companies plan to jointly develop underlying software and hardware platforms for ECUs, modeling tools, demonstration panels, AUTOSAR applications, in-vehicle networking solutions and low-end body control modules.
